Sportsman&#39;s nipper



Nov. 18, 1952 c. A. SUNDSTRAND 2,618,058

SPORTSMAN'S NIPPER Filed April 2. 1947 4 .1 E five/257 .7 f0 19Carlflfiwzdsbmd Patented Nov. 18, 1952 ram" OFFICE SPORTSMANS NIPPERCarlA. Sundstrand, Rockford, 111.

Application April 2, 1947, Serial No. 739,035

1 Claim.

This invention relates to nippers and is more particularly concernedwith an improved design and construction of wide and thin jawed nippersespecially adapted for use by fishermen, and other sportsmen, forclipping horns and fins, and for skinning fish and animals, and doingvarious other jobs, these tools having also been found to be handy forvarious purposes around the home, such as trimming and pruning vines andshrubs, and picking flowers and fruit, the powerful pinching actionafiorded with the jaws making these tools also handy for use aroundshops for a wide variety of jobs where other pinchers are commonly used,and on some jobs where pinchers of the old conventional designs are notsuitable.

The principal object of my invention is to provide nippers, the wide,thin sheet metal jaws of which are channel-shaped for stifiness andstrength throughout the length of their posterior portions where thegreatest strains are concentrated in heavy pinching operations, the jawsbeing gradually widened toward their gripping extremities as thechannels thereof are made shallower, and the jaws being, furthermore,curved quite sharply toward each other at their extremities to meet atsuch a small angle that there will be no likelihood of the metal bendingeven under heaviest closing pressure applied to the handles. In otherwords, the bending to nearly semi-cylindrical curvature of the webportion combined with the bending to channel section of the curved jawand the flaring outwardly of the flanges as they are graduallydiminished in height toward the gripping end of the jaw serve to providegreat strength and rigidity so that no other reinforcement is neededalthough comparatively light gauge sheet metal is used for the sake ofeconomy as well as lightness of the tool.

Another object is to provide a tool of the kind described in which asecondary set of narrower nipping and pinching jaws are provided on theinner ends of the web portions of the channel section jaws to provideeither limit stops for the closing of the jaws to avoid likelihood ofthe jaws getting bent out of shape in the hands of an unusually strongoperator, or to permit applying a much more powerful pinching andnipping action with these secondary jaws due to their closer spacing tothe pivotal axis of the jaws and the increased mechanical advantagewhich results from that, there being many times in the use of pincherswhere such increased pressure is desirable.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which- Figs.1 and 2 are two views of the nippers of 'my invention, Fig. 1 showing indotted lines the closed position of the jaws;

Fig. 3 is an end view of Fig. 1; v

Fi s. 4-7 are sectional details of one of the jaws taken at the pointscorrespondingly numbered in Fig. l, and

Figs. 8 and 9 are sectional details of one of the handles taken at thepoints correspondingly numbered in Fig. 1.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts in thesenine views. l

The reference numerals l0 and H designate the jaws of the nippers whichare pivotally connected by a pin l2 and have the ends of a spring l3,thatis coiled around the pin,. engaging the inner sides of the handlesl4 and [5 to hold the jaws'open. The two working parts In and II of thetool are sheet metal stampings for lightness, strength and economy,substantially identical blanks being used for both parts. The jaw end ofboth parts, aside from the nearly semi-cylindrical curvature lengthwiseshown in Fig. 1, is formed to the square-cornered channel section, shownin Fig. 4, the channel gradually widening outwardly and becomingshallower, as shown in Figs. 5 and'6', and ending in the straight endportion shown in Fig. 7, and the handle end is formed to the round-- edchannel section shown in Figs. 8 and 9; all channel'sections being openon the same'side of each part, as clearly appears in Fig. 1. The partsare both slotted open between the jaw and handle at the pivot portionsI6, and the sides of the one slotted pivot portion are spread to permitthe other part to be inserted therein and the interfitted parts to bepivotally connected by the pin 12. The semi-cylindrically curvedchannelshaped jaw portions of parts IE] and II have the open sidesturned away from each other so that the longitudinally extending flanges11 which give strength and rigidity to the jaws are on that side of thewebs l8 away from the work and the inside surfaces of said jaws aresmooth and Will not mar or scratch the work with which they may come incontact. The flanges I! are decreased gradually in height from the pivotpin [2 outwardly as the jaws are widened, as shown in Fig. 2, toward theouter end or tip portions l9, so that there is the greatest strength andrigidity nearest the pivot l2 where the greatest strains are usuallyconcentrated in working with the tool. The tips H! are made V-shaped soas to provide reasonably well sharpened edges 20 for easily clippinghorns and fins and taking a good hold on the work when skinning fish andanimals. The tool is made of high grade sheet steel, heavily zinc orcadmium plated to resist corrosion, and the jaws ill and l l aretherefore hard enough for good service, but not too hard to permitsharpening of the V-edges 20 on the jaws with a file when they becomedulled by rough usage. The tapering of the jaws down toward the tipportions 19 to the thinness of the sheet metal used enables easier andcleaner cutting, and the widening of the jaws toward the tip portionsenables taking a good hold on the work when that is desired or making awide cut in the work when that is desired. It is the curvature of thewebs I8 to substantially semicylindrical form combined with the flanginglengthwise at I! along both longitudinal edge portions which accountsfor the strength and rigidity of the jaws despite the factthat fairlylight gauge sheet metal is used in the construction of the tool. The tipportions 19 are disposed at such a small angularity relative to oneanother when the jaws are closed, as appears in Fig. 1, that there is nodanger of the parts-bendingeven under application of fairly heavypressure. The inner ends 2| of the webs 18 on the twojaws are defined bysquare shoulders parallel to one another and projecting appreciably byreason of the cutting away of the flanges H, as at 22, and are arrangedto come into engagement simultaneously with the outer ends 20, asclearly appears in the dotted line closed position shown in Fig. 1. Inthat way, a two-fold purpose is served, firstly, these abutting ends -2lserve as limiting stops to protect the tip portions 19 againstlikelihood of bending, in the event of unusually heavy pressure beingapplied to the handles I l-45, and, secondly, these abutting ends 2| maybe used as a'secondary set of narrower but much more powerful nippingand pinching jaws, the greater power being due to the closer spacing ofthese abutting ends 2| relative to the pivot I2 and the increasedmechanical advantage which is accordingly realized. There are many timesin the use of pinchers where such increased power is desirable.

Itis believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding ofthe objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claim has beendrawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim A device of the character described, comprising a pair ofelongated sheet metal members pivotally connected together intermediatetheir ends and each including a handle portion and a jaw portion, thejaw portions being of channel-shaped cross-section transversely thereofand arranged with the web portions of the channels innermost and theside walls of the channels extending outwardly, the web portions of thejaws gradually increasing in width in a direction away from the pivotalaxis and terminating in straight flattened web portions defining theouter ends of'the jaws, and the side walls of the jaws diverging in thesame direction and gradually diminishing in height to the flattened webportions of the outer ends of the jaws, the web portions being archedsubstantial-1y semi-circularly lengthwise thereof outwardly relativelyto one another and having their straight wide outer ends provided withsharp edges and arranged to come into abutment when the handles and jawsare closed, and having their narrower inner ends also provided withsharp edges and arranged to come into abutment-rat the same time as theouter ends. the web portions; due to the semi-circularly arched formthereof; defining therebetween in the closed position of the handles andjaws a substantially circular opening for clearance with respect to workpinched or clipped between either-set of cooperate ing sharp edges.

CARL A. SUNDS'IRAND;

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file "ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS;

Number Name Date Re. 11,868 Bernard Nov: 6, 1-900 519,550 Riordan a May3, 1894 782,654 Hart Feb. 14, 1905' 866,253 Bernard Sept. 1.7, 1907975,385 Chappel Nov. 8.,v 1910 1,399,958 Gilbert i Dec. 13, 19211,910,750 Clark May 2 3,. 1938 2,328,866 Van Sittert et a1. Sept. 7,1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 335,068 France hfih Jan. 11,1-904

